Music without borders: On the Grammys

The Grammys were a celebration of women singers, past and present

Time stood still twice at the 66th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday when iconic singer-songwriters Joni Mitchell and Tracy Chapman took the stage to tell stories one more time through music. While the 80-year-old Mitchell, who had suffered a life-threatening aneurysm some years ago, performed her 1968 song, ‘Both Sides Now’, Tracy Chapman, 59, accompanied (to go with someone or to be provided or exist at the same time as something) by her guitar and Luke Combs, belted out her classic hit, ‘Fast Car’ — both numbers powerful markers of the human experience and still speaking to the times. As if on cue, Annie Lennox, who paid tribute to Sinead O’Connor by reprising (to repeat a song, performance, or set of actions) her haunting (beautiful, but in a sad way and often in a way that cannot be forgotten) song, ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’, shouted at the end of her performance: ‘Artists for ceasefire. Peace in the world’. After that, two ongoing wars and other social crises appeared forgotten for the most part of the show, though the super indie group, boygenius, who won for ‘best rock performance’, advocated (to publicly support or suggest an idea, development, or way of doing something) for a ceasefire through red pins on their attire. After years of being pulled up for not celebrating female, black, Hispanic (a person who is from, or whose parents and grandparents are from, a Spanish-speaking country, especially one in Latin America) artists enough, the Grammys made amends this time by honouring a host of young women musicians. ‘Swifties’ were duly acknowledged by helping Taylor Swift make history with her record-setting fourth album of the year award for ‘Midnights’, surpassing (extremely great) Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon, who won the award three times.

Miley Cyrus (‘Flowers’), Billie Eilish (‘What Was I Made For?’, a melancholic melody for Greta Gerwig’s Barbie) and SZA all got their moment in the spotlight. India made a mark too with a belated (coming later than expected) nod coming in for one of the country’s best-known fusion (an occasion when two or more things join or are combined) bands, Shakti, which bagged the Best Global Music Album for ‘This Moment’, a studio album they released after four decades. The band, formed in the 1970s to critical acclaim (to give public approval and praise) and fame, later regrouped and brought out an album in 2023 with founding members, guitarist John McLaughlin and tabla maestro Zakir Hussain, joining vocalist Shankar Mahadevan, percussionist (musical instruments that you play by hitting them with your hand or an object such as a stick) V. Selvaganesh and violinist Ganesh Rajagopalan. Zakir Hussain won two more Grammys, one with flutist Rakesh Chaurasia, and two other performers, for their song ‘Pashto’ which won in the Best Global Music Performance (the action of entertaining other people by dancing, singing, acting, or playing music) category. In the past, the Grammys have honoured and celebrated the music of Pandit Ravi Shankar, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, A. R. Rahman and others. But Indian artists of today, who play a mind-boggling array of instruments, from the sitar, sarod and veena to the flute, mridangam and violin, can now aspire to claim their rightful place on the global stage and be open to collaborations (to work with someone else for a special purpose) which have brought musicians such as Zakir Hussain accolades (praise and approval) and recognition (agreement that something is true or legal).

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